Christmas Eve has finally arrived! Noah's super-cute countdown calendar has finally reached the stable. 
We had a vey busy day. Noah's choir sang at one of the early services and he really wanted to participate so I took him out to the 3:00 service while daddy stayed home with the nappers. Rather than us drive all the way back out home and rush through dinner so we could all get back out to church by 6:30, we decided to just meet at one of the restaurants in the church parking lot. All of this makes perfect sense, right? Now add in an unbelieveable snow storm that just happens to fall on Christmas Eve. To say it was crazy would be an understatement. Beautiful, but crazy. Every child in Kansas City must have been praying for a white Christmas because that is certainly what we got. 14 inches of the stuff. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Back to dinner. To avoid the parking lot mess around church, I decided Noah and I could just walk across the parking lot to dinner. 20 minutes later and soaking wet from the blinding snow that started just before we headed out, I decided maybe that was not such a good idea. (I'll know for next time.) Made it through dinner and rode back to the church. Threats of the impending storm had caused many people to come to earlier services so we had no trouble getting in to usually one of the busiest services. It was beautiful and even more special this year because we got to share it with our oldest son. He sat pretty well and sang his little heart out to the songs he knew. Now, he got a battery operated candle but managed to drop it on the floor enough times that it didn't work when it was finally time for it. So, I let him use mine. 
And, no one was set ablaze. Hooray!
So, after church, with now a good 6 inches on snow on the ground and it showing no sign of stopping any time soon, we set off on a tour-de-Overland Park. Somewhere along the line I had this idea that I wanted to do something special for those who have to work on Christmas Eve. It is one of my favorite nights of the year and it all revolves around being with family and just being together - at home, at church, at dinner. I think a lot about the people whose jobs require them to work on this particular evening and what they sacrifice that many of us take for granted. But not this year, I wanted to let them know that we were thinking about them. Enter "The Great Cookie Challenge". We made 6 different kinds of cookies and packaged up 4 batches of cookies with a little note thanking that read, "We are thinking of you as you work on this holiday. Thank you for all you do." Along with a cute little nativity picture that the boys colored and Luke 2:11.
They really did turn out cute and I was thankful for the last minute help. 
Now, should you attempt something like this in the future, maybe check out public service policy for working on holidays. For instance, apparently, police officers do not actually work in the office on Christmas Eve. However, keep in mind that you can still get in to use the restroom should you have a potty-training toddler in the back seat and your little adventure is taking a good two hours. The firemen did not let us down, though. They seemed very shocked/confused/surprised by our visit. The boys did get some cool hats out of it, though, 
and at the second stop even got to go out and tour the garage - crawling in and out of all trucks and ambulances. Oh, we also stopped at the Maternty unit at Menorah. (They did, after all, help us deliver our 3 greatest gifts...) Here is a picture of Christopher and Noah returning to the car from the hospital. 
I told you it was snowing...
Now, when we finally arrived back home, we did remember to put out our reindeer feed.
Unfortunately, about 8 inches of snow fell on top of it before the reindeer probably got a chance to eat it. But it looked pretty while we could still see it. The kids got their jammies on and we rushed through "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I guess maybe next year we will have to make it the night before the night before Christmas so we can all fully appreciate it.
10:47PM and the boys finally got to set out their cookies for Santa. Of course, there could be no agreement on what Santa would like so we had two different cookies AND a glass of milk and one of apple cider. Something tells me Santa enjoyed every drop of it all, though...
And, finally, off to bed for those visions of sugar plums.
We had a vey busy day. Noah's choir sang at one of the early services and he really wanted to participate so I took him out to the 3:00 service while daddy stayed home with the nappers. Rather than us drive all the way back out home and rush through dinner so we could all get back out to church by 6:30, we decided to just meet at one of the restaurants in the church parking lot. All of this makes perfect sense, right? Now add in an unbelieveable snow storm that just happens to fall on Christmas Eve. To say it was crazy would be an understatement. Beautiful, but crazy. Every child in Kansas City must have been praying for a white Christmas because that is certainly what we got. 14 inches of the stuff. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Back to dinner. To avoid the parking lot mess around church, I decided Noah and I could just walk across the parking lot to dinner. 20 minutes later and soaking wet from the blinding snow that started just before we headed out, I decided maybe that was not such a good idea. (I'll know for next time.) Made it through dinner and rode back to the church. Threats of the impending storm had caused many people to come to earlier services so we had no trouble getting in to usually one of the busiest services. It was beautiful and even more special this year because we got to share it with our oldest son. He sat pretty well and sang his little heart out to the songs he knew. Now, he got a battery operated candle but managed to drop it on the floor enough times that it didn't work when it was finally time for it. So, I let him use mine. And, no one was set ablaze. Hooray!So, after church, with now a good 6 inches on snow on the ground and it showing no sign of stopping any time soon, we set off on a tour-de-Overland Park. Somewhere along the line I had this idea that I wanted to do something special for those who have to work on Christmas Eve. It is one of my favorite nights of the year and it all revolves around being with family and just being together - at home, at church, at dinner. I think a lot about the people whose jobs require them to work on this particular evening and what they sacrifice that many of us take for granted. But not this year, I wanted to let them know that we were thinking about them. Enter "The Great Cookie Challenge". We made 6 different kinds of cookies and packaged up 4 batches of cookies with a little note thanking that read, "We are thinking of you as you work on this holiday. Thank you for all you do." Along with a cute little nativity picture that the boys colored and Luke 2:11.
They really did turn out cute and I was thankful for the last minute help. Now, should you attempt something like this in the future, maybe check out public service policy for working on holidays. For instance, apparently, police officers do not actually work in the office on Christmas Eve. However, keep in mind that you can still get in to use the restroom should you have a potty-training toddler in the back seat and your little adventure is taking a good two hours. The firemen did not let us down, though. They seemed very shocked/confused/surprised by our visit. The boys did get some cool hats out of it, though, and at the second stop even got to go out and tour the garage - crawling in and out of all trucks and ambulances. Oh, we also stopped at the Maternty unit at Menorah. (They did, after all, help us deliver our 3 greatest gifts...) Here is a picture of Christopher and Noah returning to the car from the hospital. I told you it was snowing...Now, when we finally arrived back home, we did remember to put out our reindeer feed.
Unfortunately, about 8 inches of snow fell on top of it before the reindeer probably got a chance to eat it. But it looked pretty while we could still see it. The kids got their jammies on and we rushed through "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I guess maybe next year we will have to make it the night before the night before Christmas so we can all fully appreciate it.10:47PM and the boys finally got to set out their cookies for Santa. Of course, there could be no agreement on what Santa would like so we had two different cookies AND a glass of milk and one of apple cider. Something tells me Santa enjoyed every drop of it all, though...
And, finally, off to bed for those visions of sugar plums. 
1 comment:
Love that picture of your hubby and Ben with the candle...good shot!
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